Filling fork and grid mechanism for looms



March 10, H. A. DAVIS FILLING FORK AND GRID MECHANISM FOR LOOMS FiledJuly 10,..1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1.

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Harry A. Davis 7 b /MJMkW March 10, 1931. H. A. DAVIS 1,795,841

FiLbING FORK AND GRID MECHANISM FOR'LOOMS Filed July 10. 1929 2Sheets-Sheet '2 Fig.

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Harry A. Davis byMwA M Patented Mar. 10, 1931 HARRY A. DAVIS, 01''I-IOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, nssreizron-ronnarnn eon'ronm TION, FHOPEDAL'E, MASSACHUSETTS, ,n-conronnrron or MAINE- FILLING FORK AND GRIDMECHANISM FOR LOOMS Application filed m 10,

these elements cooperate when the lay beats up in .such a manner that ifthe filling is present in front (of the grid, the normal operation 1.5of the loom will continue, but if the filling is absent due toexhaustion, breakage, or any other reason, the cooperative action of thefork grid, detecting this absence .of the filling, will effectthestopping of the loom or the desired change in the operation of theloom.

It has been found that when cloth is being woven with a light filling,with rayon, or with brittle and easily breakable filling, the 12impactof the fork and grid elements against the filling damages and evenbreaks the filling,,thus either injuringthe quality of the cloth oreffecting an undesired stopping or change in the operation of the loomwith 80 consequent loss in efliciency. Repeated tests have shown that avery large percentage of filling breakage which occurs under theseconditions in the 100m operation is due to this action of the fork andgrid on the fillto the fork and grid with the result that there is avariation in the force of the impact, (2) the tension on the fillingvaries due the position of the shuttle, the conditions in the shuttle,the size ofthe filling mass on the bobbin, the action of the feeleronthe filling when a filling replenishing mechanism is employed, (3) thebars of the elements, that is, the tines of the fork and the ribs of thegrid, are frequentlynot inparallelism or in par allel planes with aresulting uneven action ,of at theseveral bars when these elementscooperin Various factors enter into this undesirab e result, amongwhichthe following have been observed, (1) the filling does not always lieinthesame vertical position with respect 1929. .Serial No. 377,115.

,ate in {engagement with the filling, frequently there is a variation inthe setting or adjustment of the fork-and the grid, the

bars of either one or both elements, that is,

the tines of the fork andthe ribs of the grid, may be bent or uneven.Furthermore, even when theconditions under which the fork and gridcooperate are at the best, there is a very substantial impact on thefilling during the detecting operation because the elements must befairly rugged in order to perform their function of effecting thestopping or change of operation .of the loom. The fork I I isusuallyamounted to move on a pivotal axis each time the lay beats upwith the filling present and it must be steady in its movement and mustnotfiutter, or it would rebound .and function improperly. I

The present invention consists in construct ing one or the other of thefork and grid elementsso that the barsthereof areseverally andindependently yielda-ble away from the ,otherelement in thepdirection oftheir cooperative movement so that upon impact a slight independentyield of these bars may take place, thus automatically securing j-ustsuflicient force of impact on the filling to finsure the properfunctioning of the mechanism without deleterious results to the fill-.111

These and other objects and features of the invention will appear morefully fromthe accompanying description and drawings and will beparticularly pointed out inthe' claims. As the general construction andoperation of a loom and of filling fork and grid ,mech- 'anism is wellknown and familiar-to those skilled in the art, it will only benecessary here to illustrate and describe'those elements directlyconcerned with preferred embodimentsof the present invention. a t

The drawingsshow several forms which the invention may take as appliedboth .tothe fork element and the grid element.

V In .the drawings-z i .Fig. 1 is .a side elevation partially inverticalcross section of an ordinary type of filling fork and'grid mechanismwith portionsof a loom immediately associat.ed.t'he-reinc 'bar 13 of thefork slide.

with and with one form of the invention embodied m the fork element.-

Fig. 2 1s a detail in vertical cross section 7 taken on the line 22 ofFig. 4 of the fork element shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an elevation looking toward the rear of the fork element shownin Fig. 1.

Fig. 4: is a bottom plan view of the fork element shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5is a view similar to Fig.2 showing another form of the inventionembodied in the fork element.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the construction shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with an other form of the inventionembodied in the grid element.

Fig. 8 is a front elevation of the grid element shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a view in vertical cross section of the grid element shown inFig. 7.

Fig. 10 is a bottom plan view of the grid element shown in Fig. 7

In the construction shown in Figs. 1 to f,

inclusive, the usual oscillating lay structure of the loom comprisingthe swords 1 and lay 2 is shown as provided with a grid element 8 of theusual type. Such a grid is rigidly supported with its parallel spacedbars or ribs standing parallel with and at the rear of the path of theshuttle. The stand or support iis secured to and projects rearward fromthe breast beam and carries the usual filling fork slide 5 mounted toslide forward and rearward therein. The filling fork ele ment comprisesa body 6 pivotally journalled on a bearing 7 between the bifurcated arms11 carries pivoted thereto the hook 12 between the arms 8 and restingupon the cross The operation of these elements is a familiar one. Eachtime the lay beats up, if the filling is properly laid in front of thegrid, it is carried by the grid against the tines of the fork, raisingthe tail 10 out of the path of the hook 12. But if the filling isabsent, no movement of the fork takes place and as the'weft hammer 11swings forwardly, the hook 12 engaging the tail 10 gives a forwardmovement to the fork slide which through suitable mechanism acts toeffect the stopping of the loom or a change cesses 14, one for eachtine. These'recesses present a rear wall constituting a stop to hold thetines in parallelism and a front wall 15 inclined forward and downwardso that the recess is of considerable width at the bottom. At the upperfront portion of each recess the body presents a shoulder 16 and theseshoulders are parallel with the journal axis 17 of the body andconstitutes a pivotal axis for the tines. The tines are bent into hookshape at their upper ends so that they may swing forward and rearward onthe shoulders 16. Forward of each tine an individual spring 18 ismounted in each recess 14 between its tine and the front wall of therecess which is bored out to receive the spring. Thus each fillingengaging bar or tine is normally held against the stop or rear wall ofits recess with all the tines in parallelism and thus each bar or tineyields severally and independently forward against the action of itsspring 18. The tail 10 is in the form of a Wire loop havingdependinglegs 19 fitted into apertures in the body. The top plate 20 ofthe body is separate from the main portion of the body so that both thetines and the tail may be inserted in the body through the top and thenheld in position by the top plate secured in place by a suitable screwor securing device 21. The forwardly projecting ends 22 of the barsor'tines are bevelled off as shown to permit the swinging or pivotalmovement of the tines in a horizontal recess 28 shown as formed partlyinthe main body 6 and partly in the cover plate 20.

In Figs. 5 and 6 is shown a slightly different form of filling forkelement from that already described but for use in a similarcombination. In this construction the body 2% has a similar journalbearing 25 to that already described. The cover portion 26 in this caseis located at the rear of the body and secured thereto by screws 27 withthe recesses 28 for the fork bars or tines formed partially in the bodyand partially in the cover, the tines being limited in their rearwardswing by the inner stop surface of the cover and in their forward swingby the body. In this case individual contractile springs 29 are securedto the upper forwardly bent ends of the tines 30, herein shown as fourin number, and to the body and act normally to hold the tines inparallelism against the stop sur face of the cover and permit the tinesto yield separately and independently in a forward direction. The loopedtail Slof the fork element is in the form of a flat recessed platesecured to the top of the body by suitable rivets or screws 82.

' lnthe construction shown in Figs. 7 to 10, inclusive, the generalarrangement and operation of the fork and grid elements is the same asalready described, but in this case the grid element is the oneinwhich'the parallel bars are separately and independently slots 53formed 45 and by memsai yieldable while the filling fork element isshown as of the usual construction. The lay swords 33, the lay 34, thefilling fork stand 35, the filling fork slide 36, the weft hammer 37 andthe hook 38, are all shown as of the same construction as in Fig. 1. Thefilling fork of the usual type comprising the body 39, the dependingbars or tines 40 mounted therein to cooperate with the grid and the tail41 mounted therein to cooperate with the hook 38.

The grid element in which one form of the main feature of the inventionis here embodied is shown in detail in Figs. 8, 9 and 10. As shown, thebody of this element comprises a. U-shaped frame 42 having a lug 43extending laterally therefrom by means of which the frame is secured tothe lay sword, as by a suitable bolt 44, and wherein arms 45 and46extend laterally from its rear ends in the direction opposite to thelug 43. The several filling engaging bars or ribs 4? normally stand inparallelism in a substantially vertical plane extending parallel to andat the rear of the lay. These bars at their upper and lower ends arebent rearwardly at 48 and 49. These bars or ribs are mounted in the bodyor frame of the grid element to swing severally and independentlythereon in a direction normal to the plane of the bars. This is securedby mounting the rear end of each portion 48 in a separate slot 50 in thearm bending the rear ends of the portions 48 to form bearing portions 51mounted upon a common'bearing stud 52 extending through the arm 45. Therear ends of the lower portions 49 are, guided in individual in thelower arm 46 and a block 54 removably secured to the rear thereof, as bya positioning pin 55 and a screw 56, so as to form a part of the arm 46.These rear ends of the lower. portions 49 of the grid bars are upturnedas at 57 and individual springs 58 are seated, between these upturnedends and bores in the block 54. The rear surface of the arm 46 engagedby the upturned ends 57 forms a stop surface positioning the bars 47 ofthe grid element in parallelism when at the limit of movement inthe'filling engaging direction and the individual springs 58mountedb'etween each of these grid bars or ribs and the body or frame ofthe grid element act yieldably to hold the bars in this osition and alsoto permit independent yielding of the bars away from this position.

In the various forms thus described as illustrative embodiments of theinvention, it will be seen that the fork and grid elements have relativebodily movement toward and away from each other, and that each has aplurality of filling engaging bars such as the tines of the fork and theribs of the grid which are sufiiciently still to be normally inflexible, being preferably made of metal, and that the filling engagingbars of one of these elements are asevsrallygand independent yyieldalele away from the ietherilement i the direction of the relative:bodily. incremen which takespl'ace ihetweeni' he two elementsFiurthermore and more specifisally in whicheaer element the. mventionmay be embodied, there are a plurality of para le filling tern gagingsbars mounted element" and. severally and 1 independentlyyieldablethereoll in idinectionnomual or in general at rightianglesbars. 7 Aga n in either specif ccaconstrnction shOyvH the-Jmdypf theelemen pnov des means for positioning all of the fillinmengag;loarsinrpi mlleli-sm wh n atrthe irnit o their incitemen in a fil i geng ging tion individual springs arem -ted twee leach bar-and t e ody oi-t e element which actyi'el ab y to ho d .t eha-r' i 'thlis po i n andalso to; per it the in ependent yield fz li bars aw y:f oxns idpQsi 0aheinvention h sn ejsents a c struction in which, a filling dete tingmechanism of t s gene al type, th desired-de ecting actio may be securedwi h a minim mvda ger of injury-to ol -breakageogfrtheyarn. v v Havingthu d v i e t-he i manenthat i cl im d as new, and es r d oib sc uted yLett s Pate t, is; v a

1. A filling detecting mechanism for a loom comprising'coopeaating forkand grid elements having relative bodily movement to theaplail e of thei ion the ,body bf; th

toward and away from each other and each having a plurality of fillingengaging stiff bars in which the bars of one element are mounted toyield severally and independently away from the other element in thedirection of said movement;

2. A filling detecting mechanism for a loom comprising cooperating forkand grid elements having relative bodily movement toward and away fromeach other and each having a plurality of filling engaging stiff bars inwhich the barsof one element are mounted therein for several andindependent I movement in the direction toward and away from the otherelement and are spring-actuated toward the other element. 7 Y

3. A filling engaging element and grid filling detecting mechanismcomprising a body and a plurality of parallel lling engaging stiff barsbody to yield severally and independently thereon in a direction normalto the plane of the bars.

for a fork I mounted on the 4. A filling engaging element fora fork andgrid filling detecting mechanism comprising a body, a plurality ofparallel filling engaging stiff bars mounted on the body and severallyand independently movable thereon in a direction normal to the plane ofthe bars, and individual springs mounted between each i bar and the bodypermitting the bars to yield independently out of parallelism and actingnormally to retain the bars in parallelism.

5."A-fil1ing engaging element for a fork and grid filling detectingmechanism comprising a body, a plurality of normally parallel fillingengaging stiff bars pivotally mounted on the body to swing severally andindependently thereon in a direction normal to the plane of the bars,means for positioning the bars in parallelism when at the limit ofmovement in the filling engaging direction and individual springsmounted between each bar and the body acting yieldably to hold the barsin the said position and to permit independent yield of the bars awayfrom said position.

6. A filling fork for a filling detecting mechanism for a loomcomprising a body having a journalbearing, a tail rigid with the bodyand extending generally radially 7 from said body, a plurality offilling engaging tines pivotally mounted on the body on an axis parallelwith the journal bearing and extending in a direction substantially atright angles to the tail, a stop on the body positioning the tines inparallelism, and incliw vidual springs between the body and the tinesacting to hold the tines against the stop and to permit the tines toswing independently on their pivotal axis away from the stop.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

HARRY A. DAVIS.

